Holocaust Art & Remembrance

Overview

This series of three lessons (part of a World War II unit) uses the work of Holocaust survivor and artist Miriam Brysk to consider the theme of Bystanders, Resistance and Perpetrators. Instruction has been customized for delivery on Moodle and adapted for mobile devices. Students come to grips with the big ideas or over-arching concepts of how individuals treat one another through a study of war in the 20th century. Learning is personalized and connections are made to present day life and community through the creation of an online eBook.

Goals for Student Understanding

• Students will develop an enduring understanding of the extent to which action (or inaction) can have decidedly evil or virtuous outcomes in the context of war and genocide.
• Students will develop a personalized understanding of how actions in our own lives can yield both good and bad results.

Objectives

• Students will analyze the artworks of Miriam Brysk including Vilna-Ponar and He Perished in Ponar in order to examine effects of killings by death squads on individuals and communities.
• Students will begin to explain atrocities committed by the Einsatzgruppen and the role played by Bystanders by accessing supplemental online resources from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM).
• Students will analyze Miriam Brysk’s artwork “Ghetto Uprising” in order to identify instances of physical and spiritual resistance.
• Students will use supplemental texts and USHMM resources to identify options for and obstacles against resistance.
• Students will use Miriam Brysk’s artwork “Lodz-Chelmno” and Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski’s speech to the residents of the Lodz ghetto to critically examine the plight of Jewish children.
• Students will develop skills to navigate a virtual course site containing such features as a Lesson Modules, Discussion Forums; Assignment Uploader; RSS Feeds; and Ask a Librarian support.
• Students will synthesize their comprehension of Holocaust study and their appreciation of the artwork of Miriam Byrsk through a chapter submission to an eBook class project

Academic Content Standards

This unit supports Michigan Social Studies High School Content Expectations v.10.07 (World History and Geography Standards) available at http://michigan.gov/documents/mde/SS_HSCE_210739_7.pdf

• K1.5 Understand the diversity of human beings and human cultures.
• K1.6 Analyze events and circumstances from the vantage point of others.
• P1.2 Analyze point of view, context, and bias to interpret primary and secondary source documents.
• P1.3 Understand that diversity of interpretation arises from frame of reference.
• P1.4 Communicate clearly and coherently in writing, speaking, and visually expressing ideas pertaining to social science topics, acknowledging audience and purpose.
• P2.4 Use multiple perspectives and resources to identify and analyze issues appropriate to the social studies discipline being studied.
• P2.5 Use deductive and inductive problem-solving skills as appropriate to the problem being studied.
• 7.1.3 Twentieth Century Genocide – Use various sources including works of journalists, journals, oral histories, films, interviews, and writings of participants to analyze the causes and consequences of the genocides of Armenians, Romas (Gypsies), and Jews, and the mass exterminations of Ukrainians and Chinese.
• 7.2.4 Responses to Genocide – Investigate development and enactment of Hitler’s “final solution” policy, and the responses to genocide by the Allies, the U.S. government, international organizations, and individuals (e.g., liberation of concentration camps, Nuremberg war crimes tribunals, establishment of state of Israel). (National Geography Standard 13, p. 210)
• 5.5.3 Explain why the development of citizens as independent members of society who are respectful of individual worth and human dignity, inclined to participate in public affairs, and are thoughtful and effective in their participation, is important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy.

Pedagogy / Teaching Strategies

Lesson 1: The Einsatzgruppen and Bystanders

• Students individually complete online lesson module Exploration of the Art of Miriam Brysk for Lesson 1.
• Class engages in online or face-to-face discussion of the role played by Einsatzgruppen and Bystanders.

Lesson 2: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

• Students individually complete online lesson module Exploration of the Art of Miriam Brysk for Lesson 2.
• Class engages in online or face-to-face discussion of the significance of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and its impact on Resistance

Lesson 3: Children of Lodz, Chelmno and Perpetrators

• Students individually complete online lesson module Exploration of the Art of Miriam Brysk for Lesson 3.
• Using a template form, class members each create a final project that includes examples of Miriam Brysk's artwork, student photographs and personal reflections.
• An instructor example is shared via ePub
• Class engages in online or face-to-face discussion thereby connecting the lessons of the Holocaust to our own lives

Materials Used / Resources

Lesson 1

• Miriam Brysk’s artworks “Vilna-Ponar” (slides 17 & 18) and “He Perished at Ponar” (slides 36 & 37).
• National Geographic. ”Before Death Camps” YouTube.
• USHMM. “Einsatzgruppen (Mobile Killing Units)” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• USHMM. “Historical Film Footage” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• USHMM “Personal History of Frima Laub” Holocaust Encyclopedia.

Lesson 2

• Miriam Brysk’s artworks “Ghetto Uprising” (slides 38 & 39).
• USHMM. Lyrics to “Our Town is Burning.” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• USHMM. “Resistance in the Smaller Ghettos of Eastern Europe.” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• USHMM. “Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive. "Lecture Toward the Final Solution." Life Unworthy of Life. .

Lesson 3

• Miriam Brysk’s artwork “Lodz-Chelmno” (slides 31 & 32) and Miriam Brysk’s artwork “Mama and I” (slides 84 & 85).
• Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. “Chaim Rumkowski’s Give Me Your Children Speech.”
• USHMM. “Chelmno.” Holocaust Encyclopedia.
• USHMM. “Give me your Children: Voices from the Lodz Ghetto”

Equipment

This Moodle unit has been customized for delivery on the iPad. The Apple device has received much well-deserved acclaim for its simplicity of design, portability, accessibility and potential to enhance instruction. We have found that the iPad allows students to analyze artworks and other primary source documents in much greater detail, utilizing the “pinch” feature, zooming in and out and scanning to any part of an image. When accessing some videos that still require the use of Flash, it is advisable to play the materials on a regular computer or laptop.

Evaluation / Assessment

The learning objectives of this unit which are tied to the three Moodle lesson components (Exploration of the Art of Miriam Brysk) can be assessed in terms of complete vs. incomplete. Our goal is also to try to encourage every student to obtain full credit by participating in class discussions, both face-to-face and online. The learning objectives associated with creation of chapter for the class eBook are largely affective and therefore may be difficult to assess. If the individual reflection piece (connecting the art of Miriam Brysk to the student’s own personal experience) is well thought out and demonstrates that adequate time and effort have been put forth, the student will successfully fulfill the requirements of the unit. As a culminating activity to this summative assessment, an online interactive session should be scheduled between students and Holocaust artist and survivor Miriam Brysk.